8 - Houston



TABLE OF CONTENTS

FY2011 NEW / CHANGES ii

BUDGET POLICY ii

BUDPREP INTRODUCTION ii

FY2011 BUDGET PREPARATION -- QUICK TIPS iv

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS v

BUDPREP v

FY2011 BUDGET PREPARATION 6

1.0 GENERAL BUDGET INFORMATION 6

1.1 Guidelines for Defining Cost Centers 6

1.2 Allocating Funding to Cost Centers 7

1.3 Business Area Reorganization 8

1.4 Submission Schedule 8

1.5 Submission Requirements 8

1.6 Revision Requirements 9

2.0 THE BUDPREP SOFTWARE PACKAGE 11

2.1 Installing BUDPREP on a Personal Computer (PC) 11

2.2 Installing the Software Update Distribution System (SUDS) 14

2.3 Starting BUDPREP 15

3.0 COMPLETING THE BUDGET FORMS 17

3.1 Business Area Mission Statement 17

3.2 Business Area Summary 17

3.3 Cost Center Summary 19

3.4 Group Summary 21

3.5 Revenue Items 24

3.6 Expenditure Items 26

3.7 Capital Equipment 29

3.8 Personnel 33

3.9 Fund Center Summary 38

3.10 Revenue Request Detail 39

3.11 Expenditure Request Detail 40

4.0 MONTHLY BUDGET 42

5.0 YEAR END CLOSING: Encumbrances and Accruals 44

6.0 FORMS NOT INCLUDED IN BUDPREP 45

6.1 Forms 8A - 8D, Facility Maintenance Cost Summary 45

6.2 Computer Related Expenditure Package 45

FY2011 NEW / CHANGES

BUDGET POLICY

• BudPrep contains the current Health Benefits rates for Health Care, Worker’s Compensation, and Long-Term Disability. The FY2011 rates will be loaded into BudPrep when they become available. You will be notified of the updates through the Budget Bulletins in BudPrep.

• Budget submissions must include hard copy printouts of the Business Area Summary, Cost Center Summary, Revenue and Expenditure Commitment Item Summary, and, where applicable, the Group Summary and Fund Summary.

• Enterprise Geographical Info System Support (EGIS) has a new established Commitment Line Item - 521630. Show all EGIS Services related costs in Line Item #521630.

BUDPREP INTRODUCTION

• BudPrep will be installed from an installer on the network. CD is also available for departments who do not have access to install server on the network.

• The BudPrep applications will automatically Calc and Post all forms at the time of printing.

• BudPrep allows the user to move between funds without exiting and restarting the application.

• An asterisk in the report sub-menu marks reports included in the final budget.

• The Fund Summary narrative can be edited directly in BudPrep.

• BudPrep will check and notify users if there are any unallocated expenditures in the default ****9999 cost center.

• The Master Calc Post option under Utilities Menu on main screen will Post and Calc all forms anytime.

• After the budget has been submitted, departments will have read only access.

• To avoid the ‘out of balance due to rounding’ problem, BudPrep requires users to enter whole numbers for revenue and expenditure items. Decimals and cents are not allowed.

• Personnel detail can be exported to Excel by selecting the Utilities option. Select Personnel from the main menu, and then select Utilities->Export. The export function is available for Revenues and Expenditures as well.

• BudPrep users will be responsible for selecting the Cost Centers for the Group Summary.

• All anticipated merit increases; promotions, etc. are to be accounted for in the Compensation Contingency Line Item #504020, which is a part of Personnel Services.

• Submission Package Print feature is available in BudPrep which will generate Business Area Summary, Cost Center Summary/Group Summary, FTE Report, Revenue and Expenditure Commitment Item Summary

FY2011 BUDGET PREPARATION -- QUICK TIPS

• Read the Budget Preparation Manual!!

This manual is a necessary tool and will provide answers to the majority of the questions asked by department personnel.

• Read the Budget Bulletins!!

These bulletins provide periodic clarification as well as updates related to the budget process.

• All reorganization requests must have prior written approval from the Director of Finance. Departments may be required to restate FY2009 Actual, FY2010 Current Budget and Estimate amounts to correspond to the FY2011 cost centers.

• Submissions should be delivered to your assigned analyst in the Budget Management Division of the Finance Department, 611 Walker, 11th Floor by the deadline. Submit complete requests only. Partial submissions will be returned to departments. The Budget timeline schedule will be distributed under separate communication.

• Refer to the matrix below to determine supplies and equipment categories:

FY2011 EQUIPMENT SUMMARY

|TYPE |EXPECTANCY |UNIT COST |CAPITALIZED FIXED ASSET? |EQUIP. ACQ. ELIGIBLE? |

| |LIFE | | | |

| | | | | |

|Supplies |Less than 1 year |Less than $1,000 |No |No |

| | | | | |

|Non-Capital |Greater than 1 year |$1,000 - $5,000 |No |Yes |

|Equipment | | | | |

| | | | | |

|Capital |Greater than 1 year |More than $5,000 |Yes |Yes |

|Equipment | | | | |

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

BUDPREP

Q. Why do I get an “ERROR 301” message when starting BudPrep?

A. Some of the files in the C:\bprep directory are read-only and BudPrep cannot update them as it needs to do. See section 2.2 for more details.

Q. Why do my Group Summary report totals not equal my Expenditure totals?

A. The Program Table is not complete. Check that each Cost Center is assigned to a Group in the cost center form under Utilities/Change Controlling Group.

Q. How do I change the new budget FTEs on the COST CENTER SUMMARY?

A. The FTEs cannot be changed on the Cost Center Summary. You must make the changes on the Personnel Summary form for FY2011.

Q. Why doesn’t the Expenditure Request Detail show all my commitment items?

A. The Expenditure Request Detail is to be used to explain only those objects where the FY2011 Budget amount differs from the FY2010 Estimate amount by 10% or more.

Q. Why does the text I enter on the Expenditure Request Detail go away when I leave?

A. You are entering too much data into the field. The size of the text box is set to accommodate the total amount of allowed space. If your text begins to scroll it will not post to the database and it will be eliminated when you leave the form.

Q. Why don’t the insurance amounts on the Personnel form post to Expenditures?

A. Nothing on the personnel form will post to expenditures if the employee type field is left blank. Additionally, the insurance amounts will not post if the Ins Code is blank or if the code is NOT entered in upper case. Make sure both of these fields are properly completed.

FY2011 BUDGET PREPARATION

1.0 GENERAL BUDGET INFORMATION

The overall budget preparation process for FY2011 has not changed substantially from previous years.

Performance measures and their monitoring will again be emphasized in the FY2011 Operating Budget. The purpose of this process is to link budgets to measurable service delivery units and cost center objectives. Careful consideration must be given to quantifiable performance measures and the impact of dollar requests on these measures. The Finance Department will carefully review the relationship between budget proposals and cost center service delivery objectives.

Departments should allocate FY2011 budget resources to maintain current service levels. Business Areas may target non-essential cost centers for expenditure reductions or elimination. Any reductions must be thoroughly documented.

Any reductions to basic and critical services that you wish to make must be requested using a form Finance will provide at the time you receive your target letter. Also, all vacancy factors must be reasonable and based on actual past historical trends.

The Finance Department will review in detail each budget submission. As needed, meetings will be held with directors to clarify points regarding funding levels, service delivery, budget guidelines, etc. The Mayor will present the FY2011 Proposed Budget to City Council, after which Council will hold budget workshops. Workshops provide Council Members an opportunity to discuss budgets with department directors and other representatives.

1.1 Guidelines for Defining Cost Centers

Although cost centers may change from one fiscal year to the next, it is important for cost center descriptions and definitions to remain as consistent as possible from year to year. A cost center is defined as a discrete service or group of related services provided by an organizational unit designed to achieve the organization's goals and objectives.

The following factors need to be considered in defining a cost center:

• The end beneficiary of the cost center, such as:

o the public at large

o specific segments of the public, and/or

o other City departments

• A geographical area or facility

• Type of service provided

• Policy directives or legal mandates requiring a service or function

If possible, cost centers should be stand-alone activities. Any proposed changes in cost center definitions will be reviewed by a Finance budget analyst.

|NOTE: |Although budget information is summarized for presentation purposes, departments must be prepared to provide budget | |

| |and performance measure information at the lowest cost center levels. | |

1.2 Allocating Funding to Cost Centers

It may be necessary for a department to allocate available funding among various cost centers. Use the following guidelines to allocate funding levels to cost centers for Annual and Monthly Allotments:

• Direct Allocation – Direct allocation identifies given items that can be identified as being used exclusively in a specific cost center. This provides the most desirable basis for allocation.

• Personnel-Related Costs – Personnel related costs have a direct relationship to the number of personnel involved in a given activity. These costs are allocated to a cost center based upon staffing or personnel service expenditures. Examples are items such as office supplies, operating supplies, overtime, small tools, and telephone costs.

• Space-Related Costs – Depending on the character of a given cost center, the amount of space used in an activity can provide a logical basis for the allocation of certain costs. Space rentals, utilities, facilities maintenance, and janitorial services normally fall into this category.

• Equipment-Related Costs – In many cost centers, particularly those that are equipment-intensive, a significant portion of costs may be allocated to the units and types of equipment utilized. Fuel, vehicle maintenance, equipment maintenance, equipment rental, and computer supplies are examples of these types of costs.

1.3 Business Area Reorganization

Reorganizations are sometimes requested to update the current structure of a department. Prior approval to proceed with reorganizations must be obtained from the Director of Finance before the budget preparation process. A written request detailing the necessity and outlining the proposed changes in the current financial and personnel structure should be submitted to Finance Department for approval.

1.4 Submission Schedule

The submission schedule will be provided under separate communication.

1.5 Submission Requirements

The following requirements apply to all departments:

1. All budget requests must be complete before submitting to the Finance Department.

Incomplete submissions will be returned.

2. All submissions must include a summary highlighting the department’s budget. The synopsis should be in the form of a memo from the department director to the Finance Director. The narrative should address the following areas:

• An overview of the cost centers and operations proposed for FY2011.

• The impact of the proposed budget on cost centers and service levels.

• Key objectives and priorities for the fiscal year.

• Significant changes from FY2010 operations and cost centers (note increases or decreases in cost center service levels).

• Significant changes from FY2010 revenues (include all funds).

• Any budget issues not addressed in the submission that impact FY2011.

3. All forms in the budget submission should be typed or machine-printed.

4. Submit five (5) complete copies of the proposed budget; two unbound and three bound.

5. The proposed budget should be organized by fund number and cost center number, where applicable, for all operating funds, in the following sequence:

a) Business Area/Fund narrative

b) Business Area Summary

c) Cost Center Summary

d) Business Area Revenue Summary

e) Expenditures Commitment Item Summary

f) Submissions should be delivered to your assigned Finance budget analyst by the close of business on their due dates.

1.6 Revision Requirements

Minor Revisions

Inform the Finance budget analyst assigned to your department of all minor revisions such as transposed numbers, minor math errors, and limited grammatical errors.

Major Revisions

Submit five (5) copies of all pages that include major budget revisions. Date all revision pages.

When revisions are necessary, submit five (5) copies of the revision to your Finance budget analyst with a cover memo briefly describing the reasons for the changes.

The flow of FY2011 budget information from data entry to final summarization is as follows:

1. FY2011 personnel costs are entered on the Personnel Detail form. These costs post by cost center to the expenditure form while the FTEs are computed and posted to the Cost Center Summary form. Both are shown on the Cost Center Summary form at the cost center level.

2. FY2011 budget expenditures for items other than equipment outlay and personnel costs are entered directly on the Expenditure form.

3. Cost center and/or group descriptions, objectives, and performance measures are entered and appear on the Cost Center Summary or Group Summary form as appropriate.

4. Total expenditures for a group or cost center (whichever is applicable) are taken from the Expenditures form and appear on the printed Group Summary or Cost Center Summary.

5. Revenues, by cost center within business area, are entered on the Revenue form.

6. Department budget highlights are entered on the Business Area Summary form. BudPrep summarizes FY2011 department expenditures automatically on the printed Business Area Summary report.

7. FY2011 Capital Outlay budget amounts are entered on the Capital Equipment form. The totals post to the appropriate budget organization expenditure item.

2.0 THE BUDPREP SOFTWARE PACKAGE

Finance Department will provide the FY2011 version of the budget preparation software package, BudPrep, to each department. The software package allows data entry for the following budget forms:

• Department Mission Statement

• Departmental Summary: Business Area Summary

• Cost Center Summary: Cost Center Summary

• Group Summary: Department Group Summary

• Revenue Detail: Revenue Detail by Cost Center

• Expenditure Detail: Expenditure Detail by Cost Center

• Capital Equipment Detail: Equipment List

• Personnel: Proposed Staffing Level and Salary Calculation

• Fund Summary: Fund Center Summary

• Revenue Request Detail: Explanation of Revenue Detail

• Expenditure Request Detail: Explanation of Expenditure Detail

• Monthly Budget: Monthly Expenditure/Revenue budget

1 Installing BUDPREP on a Personal Computer (PC) -- For PCs which already have BudPrep 2010, please skip this installing section

1. Copy O:\COH_BUDGET to C: drive (drive O: mapped to \\Itdw02f2\public) If you have difficulty accessing the installation file, please ask your IT person to contact Julia Zhou for other options.

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2. Double click C:\COH_BUDGET\setup.msi to launch Budprep installer.

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3. Press “Next” button in “Welcome to the COH BUDGET setup wizard” screen.

4. In “Select installation Folder” screen, put “C:\” in Folder text box, then click “Next” button.

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5. Click “Next” button in “Confirm Installation” screen. The process takes less than a minute. Press “Close” button to close COH BUDGET installer.

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6. Double click following file to install Crystal Report library: C:\COH_BUDGET\CrystalReports\CRRedist2005_x86.msi

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7. Select “Next” to go to the License Agreement screen. On License Agreement screen, check “I Agree” and “Next”. Click “Close” button to complete the installation.

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2.2 Installing the Software Update Distribution System (SUDS)

Use the following procedure to install the SUDS (automatic update) program:

Right click C:\COH_BUDGET\FY10_Budget-> Send To->Desktop (create shortcut)

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Common Problems:

SUDS does not update files

1. Check to ensure that SUDS is installed under the C:\bprep\suds directory.

2. Check that all sub directories and files under C:\bprep do not have a read only property.

3. Contact your Finance budget analyst if you have any problems or concerns.

2.3 Starting BUDPREP

Start BudPrep by clicking on the FY2011 Budget icon on your desktop. If you select to run C:\bprep\suds\FY2010_Budget_Windows.exe directly, BudPrep will run but you will not get the benefit of the automatic update, which may result in errors in calculations, and the use of improper forms.

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When the login screen appears, enter your department number and password then click on OK or press Enter. Use the same password you used last year. If you would like to change your password, contact Julia Zhou via email.

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The Main Menu will appear and you are ready to begin entering data.

There are 3 sub menus in Main Menu screen : Budget; Utility and Exit.

• The Budget menu presents a list of all the forms you will use to complete your Budget Request.

• The Utility menu includes the master calc/post procedure and the monthly budget function.

• The Exit menu ends the BudPrep session.

To begin preparing your budget request, click on the Fund No you want to work on from the drop down list of Fund available to you.

3.0 COMPLETING THE BUDGET FORMS

3.1 Business Area Mission Statement

The Business Area’s mission statement and its short and long-term goals should be entered on the Business Area Mission Statement screen.

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The text in each section is limited to 1,250 characters. To avoid losing your work, edit the data so it fits into the allocated spaces.

The completed form can be printed by selecting “Reports” from the Menu Bar. The report will be presented on screen. Click the printer icon to send it to your printer.

|NOTE: |Whenever you select the report option on a form that will appear in the final budget book, a pop-up will appear asking for the |

| |section and page number. This information is optional. If you do complete the page number, the printed form(s) will start with |

| |that number. If you do not enter a page number the report will start with page “0”. This pop-up does NOT appear when printing |

| |forms that will not be included in the budget book. |

Select “Exit” from the menu to return to the main menu.

3.2 Business Area Summary

The Business Area Summary gives a brief overview of all revenue, expenditure, personnel and department budget highlights.

Budget highlights for the new budget and the estimated FTEs for the current year are the only information entered directly on to the Business Area Summary form. Budget highlights should reflect the operational goals that the budget request will accomplish.

Begin each new highlight line with a lower case “o” followed by a space. This text is limited to 1,000 characters.

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Pressing the Update button on the screen will update the Overtime FTEs as reported on the personnel form.

Pressing the Post Revenues option from the Utilities menu will update the revenues shown as reported on the Revenues form.

Print the Business Area Summary by selecting Report from the menu. This action will automatically post all necessary screens prior to printing to ensure that current budget amounts are reported. The report will appear on screen for you to review. Press the printer icon to send the report to your printer.

|NOTE: |Reports included in the final budget document are denoted by an asterisk (*) after their name. | |

Click on the Exit to return to the main menu.

3.3 Cost Center Summary

The Cost Center Summary reflects the activities of a business area by cost center. For this summary to serve as a useful management tool, the cost center objectives must be clearly and precisely defined and be measurable over a specific period of time. Cost Center objectives should support business area objectives and focus on results, not processes or tasks. Furthermore, objectives should encompass the major functions or services of the program and be achievable at the FY2011 funding level.

In FY2011, emphasis will again be placed on the continued improvement of performance measures. The goal is to achieve performance measures that relate directly to the objectives they measure and to allow performance measures to be linked with accurate financial resources. This will provide policy makers with information they need to make service-related policy decisions. FY2011 objectives and performance measures for each cost center will be evaluated by Finance to determine if they reflect the stated objectives of a cost center.

Performance measures record progress toward stated cost center objectives. Progress may be recorded in terms of workload, efficiency, and/or effectiveness:

Workload measures provide the basis for expressing the amount of work to be performed for an activity in a given time frame. These may be expressed as:

• number of units produced; street miles overlaid

• number of activities completed; forms processed

Efficiency measures relate units of input to units of output. The goal is to get the most output for the least input. Efficiency measures may be expressed as:

• Cost per unit of activity

• Units of activity per X dollars

• Units of activity per unit of time

• Time required per unit of activity

Effectiveness measures indicate the extent to which an activity or cost center fulfills an objective or need, or brings about desired results. Some examples of effectiveness measures are:

• Statistical measurement to determine if goal is achieved

• Survey results

Business Areas should monitor all performance indicators and report the measures in the Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR). Strong emphasis is placed on performance measures as an effective gauge of good management as well as a tool to make policy decisions on the allocation of available resources.

The following are examples of cost center objectives and performance measures:

| | | |

| |Objectives |Performance Measures |

| | | |

| |Respond to all fires in 5 minutes or less |Average response time |

| | | |

| |Confine 98% of structural fires to origin after arrival|Percent of fires confined to structures after arrival |

| | | |

| |Confine residential fires in an average of 30 minutes |Average time to control residential fires after arrival |

To access the Cost Center Summary form, select Budget from the Main Menu, then select Cost Center Summary from the Budget sub menu.

Choose the cost center you wish to work on from the drop-down button.

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The Descriptions, Objectives, and Performance Measures sections contain data from the prior year adopted budget. This information should be edited and/or changed to reflect the current process.

The data with grey background can’t be edited. FY2011 FTEs are calculated based on personnel detail information. FY2009 Actual FTEs are loaded from SAP YTD FTE data.

Use the Reports menu item to print the Cost Center Summary in its two-page format. One report will be produced containing all left hand pages and then a report will be produced containing all right hand pages. You must send both reports to the printer.

|NOTE: |Choosing to print any report will cause BudPrep to automatically post all necessary data prior to printing in | |

| |order to reflect current budget amounts. | |

3.4 Group Summary

The Group Summary screen is used to combine cost centers with similar objectives into groups for reporting purposes only. These groups do not actually exist in any of the City’s financial systems. Their only function is to present consolidated, more meaningful information in the budget document.

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Select Group Summary from the Budget submenu.

Pick Group from the Group No. drop down button. Enter or revise the Group Description and Group Objectives for the group as well as the Group Performance Measures.

Please note that the data must be limited to the amount of space provided. The Group Description and Group Objectives text boxes allow 270 characters each. The Group Performance Measures fields allow 26 characters each.

Budgeted FTE and expenditure data is automatically added to the form from the cost centers and expenditure lines and cannot be entered on to the Group Summary.

Changing the Controlling Group

Departments cannot add or delete groups; however, cost centers can be moved from one group to another.

In Cost Center Summary screen, use the “Utilities” menu item to accomplish the following:

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1. Change the Controlling Group if groups exist for the department

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a) Select the Cost Center you wish to change from the Cost Center drop down button

b) Select the Group you want this Cost Center moved to from the New Group drop down button

c) Click the “OK” button to save your change(s).

2. View total departmental FTEs on the Cost Center Summary screen.

3. Update the Cost Center expenditure totals as shown on the bottom of the screen Cost Center Summary screen.

4. Calc and Post the personnel costs and FTE amounts from the Personnel form

a) Select Current Cost Center to process ONLY the current cost center.

b) Select Department to process the entire department.

To print the Group Summary report, select Reports from the menu then select Cost Center Summary.

Exit to return to the main menu.

3.5 Revenue Items

The Revenue Detail screen contains business area revenue detail by commitment item for each cost center. Only the non-grayed out column can be changed by department:

• FY2009 Actual: SAP FY2009 period 14 data (CAFR). Only can be edited by Finance department.

• FY2010 Adopted: FY2010 adopted budget. Not editable.

• FY2010 Current: Current FY2010 budget which is loaded with its adopted budget. This will be refreshed with SAP period10 data to agree with April MFOR when it is available.

• FY2010 Estimate: Current year estimate budget from department. Finance department will adjust the amount to match April MFOR when it is available

• FY2011 New: New budget request from department.

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Totals for the currently viewed cost center and the business area are shown at the bottom of the page. Select the cost center from the drop down button.

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Use the “Utilities” menu item to accomplish the following:

1. Add a new revenue record to the current Cost Center

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a) Select the commitment item you want to add from the available items in the drop down.

b) Press the “OK” button to add the record. It will be added in proper numerical order.

|NOTE: |If the item you want to add is not in the drop down, contact Julia Zhou at 7-9694. | |

2. Delete a record

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a) Select the commitment item you want to delete from the available items in the drop down.

b) Press the “OK” button to delete the record from the current cost center.

3. Post the department totals to the Business Area Summary.

4. Export the revenue information to an Excel worksheet on your hard drive.

|NOTE: |When entering revenue or expenditure data into BudPrep be sure to enter the amount as an integer. If you attempt to enter | |

| |a decimal (.) and cents, BudPrep will display an error message and block the edit. | |

Select Revenue Detail from the Reports menu to print the report.

Exit to return to the main menu.

3.6 Expenditure Items

The Expenditure Detail Form contains business area expenditure detail by commitment item for each cost center. Like Revenue Detail screen, the data in grayed out column can’t be changed.

• FY2009 Actual: SAP FY2009 period 14 data (CAFR). Only can be edited by Finance department.

• FY2010 Adopted: FY2010 adopted budget. Not editable.

• FY2010 Current: Current FY2010 budget which is loaded with its adopted budget. This will be refreshed by SAP period10 data to agree with April MFOR when it is available.

• FY2010 Estimate: Current year estimate budget from department. Finance department will adjust the amount to match April MFOR when it is available.

• FY2011 New: New budget request from department.

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Select the cost center you want to work on from the drop-down. Enter FY2011 New budget amount. Budget request amounts for certain personnel and capital equipment amounts will be entered by BudPrep from other forms during calc and post operations. These items include salaries, overtime and fringe benefits.

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Use the “Utilities” menu item to accomplish the following:

1. Add a new expenditure record to the current Cost Center

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Select the commitment item you want to add from the available items in the drop down. Press the “OK” button to add the record. It will be added in proper numerical order.

If the item you want to add is not in the drop down, contact Julia Zhou at 7-9694.

2. Delete a record

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Select the commitment item you want to delete from the available items in the drop down. Press the “OK” button to delete the record from the current cost center.

3. View screen totals of expenditures at the department or current cost center level by appropriation.

4. Post expenditure amounts from the Capital Equipment Form.

5. Post salaries, overtime and fringe benefit amounts from the Personnel Form.

The “Data_Transfer” menu item lets users download or upload FY2011 budget data.

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1. Download New Budget to Local File: show the FY2011 budget data on Crystal Report.

• Click Export Report icon on the top left action bar of the report

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• Locate the place where you like to save the data and type file name

• Select Microsoft Excel Data Only (*.xls) as “Save as type”

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• Press “Save” button to save the file

2. Upload New Budget from Excel: load FY2011 data from prepared Excel file, which has the same format as downloaded format.

• Pick the file from network or local drive, Press “Open” button to transfer FY2011 budget into BudPrep.

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Since some accounts are calc items, such as base Salary Base Pay, FICA and etc, BudPrep will run calc and post procedure after the data are imported from Excel to ensure the data correction.

3.7 Capital Equipment

The Capital Equipment Form is used to budget all proposed qualifying capital equipment purchases.

General Fund departments should use the Fund Center number provided by Finance to budget for items that will be included in the Equipment Acquisition Program, as defined below, so these items will not affect their normal operating budget. Non-General Fund departments should use their appropriate equipment fund center.

The following definitions apply to all fund centers:

DEFINITIONS:

EQUIPMENT ACQUISITION PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS: Equipment items eligible for purchase through the Equipment Acquisition Program must be a tangible item with a unit cost of $1,000 or more and a useful life of 3-7 years. These items should be designated on the Capital Equipment Form.

The Budget & Evaluation Division will change the fund number to the Consolidated Fund when approved amounts are loaded into the financial system.

EQUIPMENT - A tangible item with an expected useful life of more than one year and having a unit cost equal to or greater than $1,000. Equipment can be either Capital or Non-Capital but cannot be a repair part.

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT - A tangible item with an expected useful life greater than one year and a unit cost greater than $5,000. Items meeting this definition must be budgeted and purchased from the 560 appropriations.

NON-CAPITAL EQUIPMENT - A tangible item with an expected useful life greater than one year and a unit cost of $5,000 or less, but equal to or greater than $1,000. Items meeting this definition must be budgeted and purchased from the 550 appropriations.

EXCEPTION TO MINIMUM COST - All computers and related peripherals are considered non-capital equipment and must be purchased from the 550 appropriation, if they have a useful life greater than one year and cost $5,000 or less.

SUPPLY ITEM - A tangible item with an expected useful life of less than one year with a unit cost less than $1,000; or a repair part of any value. Items meeting this definition must be purchased from the 510 appropriations.

REPAIR PART - A tangible item installed in another tangible item to restore operating capacity. A repair part does not increase the life expectancy of equipment or improve its capacity. A repair part regardless of cost is classified as a supply item. Items meeting this definition must be purchased from the 510 appropriations.

BETTERMENT - A tangible item used to increase the performance and add to the life expectancy of another tangible item. Betterment may be classified as either equipment or supply, depending on the original item and the betterment together, meeting the life expectancy and unit cost tests.

ASSET SYSTEM - Multiple property sub-units, which function together as a single unit. An asset system may be classified as either equipment or supply, depending on the entire asset system unit meeting the life expectancy and unit cost tests.

GROUP ASSET - Multiple property sub-units of like items such as stacking chairs. A group asset may be classified as either equipment or supply, depending on the entire group asset meeting the life expectancy and unit cost tests.

COMPONENT ASSET - Individual fixed assets, which can function independently, but are related to/associated with a larger property unit for management or control purposes. A component asset may be classified as either equipment or supply, depending on the individual components meeting the life expectancy and unit cost tests.

Refer to the FY2011 Equipment Summary Matrix on page 7 for additional guidance.

The Capital Equipment Form is composed of 2 screens. The initial screen to appear is a summary screen of items requested plus budgeted amounts for both the department and current Cost Center. Information cannot be edited on this screen.

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Select the Cost Center you want to work on from the drop list. Information can be edited by selecting “Edit A Record” under the “Utilities” menu item.

You should complete a separate Capital Equipment form for all equipment items requested, regardless of funding source (all funds).

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Use the “Utilities” menu item to accomplish the following:

1. Add a new record to the current Cost Center or Edit an existing record

a) Both options will open the Capital Equipment form.

b) You must use this form to add a new record or make changes to an existing record.

c) BudPrep assigns unique reference number starting with two digits fiscal year numbers for new item.

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Likewise, the form requires you to enter a rating in the "Priority" field. This should represent the Priority at the Department level, NOT the individual cost center level.

Each equipment item requested on the Capital Equipment form must include information identifying it as a new(N) item or a replacement(R) item. Replacement items must include the Fixed Asset Identification Number (City of Houston Asset Tag Number) of the asset to be replaced as well as actual mileage in the case of vehicles.

Select the appropriate commitment item from the drop down list of available items. You cannot type the number in. If the item you want to use is a valid number and not in the list, contact Julia Zhou at 7-9694 for assistance. BudPrep will supply the commitment item name for you.

If the item is rolling stock and part of the GEMS 2000 system, a drop down list of GEMS descriptions will appear after the commitment item has been selected. Select the appropriate description for the item and the GEMS code and description will be entered for you. BudPrep will also fill the average cost of this from last year and place it in the “Budget Unit Cost” field and insert a quantity of “1”. You may change the quantity and BudPrep will recompute the “Total Budget Cost”, which is the amount that will be transferred to the expenditure form. If the GEMS description you select is not appropriate for the commitment item that you have chosen, BudPrep will change the commitment item to the one it should be.

If you wish to use a different unit cost than the one provided, enter the unit cost you wish to use in the “Budget Unit Cost’” field. BudPrep will then use that cost and recompute the “Budget Total Cost”.

When you finish entering data, press ‘Save’ on the menu to record your information and return to the summary screen.

2. Delete a record

a) Enter the reference number of the record you want to delete.

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b) Press the “OK” button to delete the record from the current cost center.

3. Post expenditure request totals to the appropriate expenditure line.

4. View screen totals at the department level.

|NOTE: |Equipment items that are proposed to be purchased through the Equipment Acquisition Program for General Fund departments | |

| |will not be included as part of the department's FY2011 operating budget and do not post to any budget forms. However, they | |

| |MUST be entered on the Capital Equipment screen. | |

Use the “Report” menu item to print a department level report.

Use the “Exit” menu item to return to the main menu.

3.8 Personnel

The Personnel Form contains a record for every active employee in the payroll system at the time BudPrep is distributed to the departments.

To protect the personnel data sensitivity, Personnel Details screen is password protected. Each department needs to send an authorized users list to the Finance Department for password assignment.

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Each record contains:

Employee ID no.

Employee Name

Employee Type

Employee Job Class and Description

Employee Insurance coverage

Number of Pay Periods this employee is budgeted for

Employee’s Base Salary per Pay Period

Employee’s Longevity Pay per Pay Period

Other items appearing on the record include the FTE and fringe benefits amounts. These items are calculated by BudPrep and are not editable.

Select the cost center you wish to work on from the drop-down. You can move through all the records in the current cost center by clicking on the navigation button on the action bar on the lower portion of the screen.

Using “Search” icon on the action bar, you can search for a specific record throughout the entire department with the same fund no using either the employee name or ID number. If you search by name and want to find the specific employee you must enter the name exactly as it appears on the record, including spaces, commas, apostrophes, etc., though it is not case sensitive. If you enter just the last name or part of the last name, BudPrep will take you to the first record with that name. If you want to search by the employee ID number you must enter all 6 digits including any leading “0”.

If you make a change to the number of pay periods, insurance type, base salary or longevity amount, you must press the “Save” icon on the action bar at the bottom of the screen. Budprep will recalculate the fringe benefit amounts.

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Use the “Utilities” menu to accomplish the following:

1. Insert a Single Record to the current Cost Center

a) Enter NEW, SEA or VAC as appropriate in Emp ID and Name fields.

b) Enter employee type, i.e., CI, CL, P3

c) Select Job Class from drop down. BudPrep will add the description for you. If the number you want is not in the drop down and it is a valid number that appears in the SAP Payroll System, contact Julia Zhou at 7-9694 and she will add it to the list.

d) Enter the position number for this position.

e) Select the insurance type from the drop down. Codes with an “S” are smoker rates, without “S” are non-smoker rates.

f) Enter the number of pay periods, with 1 decimal place, that this position will be funded.

g) Enter the whole dollar only Base Salary per pay period.

h) Press “Save” icon to save your information and return to the personnel screen.

If you decide you do not want to keep this record, click the “Cancel” button to discard it.

2. Delete a record from the current cost center.

Deletes the current record. You will need to confirm the request to delete the record.

3. Add multiple positions to the current cost center.

You can add multiple Vacant, New positions Seasonal and Cadet . This option will prompt you for the total number of VAC or NEW records you want to add and will then make that many copies of the active record.

The new positions to be added will be shown on the Edit Data screen. You may edit the data.

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Press Exit to add the records and return to the personnel screen.

4. Move one or more records from one program to another within your department. Your budget analyst should be contacted to move positions outside of your department.

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If you want to transfer a single record, enter the employee ID number and press Move. On the Edit Data screen that comes up, change the cost center number to the one this person should move to.

If you wish to move several people, enter the cost center they are currently in. The Edit Data screen that comes up will show all positions in the cost center chosen.

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For the people you want to move, change the cost center number to the one you want to move the people to. You do not have to move all the people that are listed. You may move only the ones you choose. Nor do you have to move all the people to the same cost center. You may move some to one cost center and the rest to another. Whenever you make a move, you can also edit the class code, insurance coverage, number of pay periods of salary amount.

When you are finished making changes, press the Exit menu item to save your changes and move the people in BudPrep.

5. View departmental dollar totals.

6. Add records that have one record per program, such as Overtime, Vacancy Factor, Bilingual Pay, etc. Through the use of this option, BudPrep will create one record of the type you select in every Cost Center in the current department/fund. BudPrep will automatically insert an insurance type of NA and a “1” in the pay periods field.

7. Export the personnel detail or roster information to an Excel file on your local drive or network.

Use the Reports menu to print detail reports.

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• The Personnel Detail for All Business Area report shows departmental detail report at the cost center level.

• The Personnel Details for Current Cost Center only display Personnel data for current cost center.

• The Roster report will print a Business Area roster data for each Cost Center or Group.

• “New” or Seasonal” data also can be printed thru “New Positions” or “Seasonal Positions” report.

3.9 Fund Center Summary

The Fund Center Summary Form is used by Non-General Fund business area only.

Different funds may have different way to categorize their revenues and expenditures. Most of those categories are updated automatically by totaling the expenditures entered on the revenue and expenditure screen. Only few of them and following items need be input from screen:

• Restricted Beginning Fund Balance

• Beginning Fund Balance

The ending fund balance is calculated and carried forward to the beginning fund balance of next year

Press the “Calculate” button to update amounts on the form.

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Select Edit Narrative from the menu to type/edit the fund summary text that appears at the bottom of the fund summary page.

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Select Fund Center Summary from the Reports menu to print.

Exit to return to the main menu.

3.10 Revenue Request Detail

The Revenue Request Detail form presents all revenue items in the department by commitment item and by Cost Center that have a new budget amount more than $5,000.

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Select a cost center from the drop down button, and then make a selection from the commitment item drop down button. Update the information regarding the estimated units of service and revenue generated per unit of service for each commitment item. Also, explain the assumptions concerning changes in units of service, rate per unit and other fluctuations in revenue generation. Finally, answer “Y” or “N” as to whether or not costs pertaining to this item are fully recovered by the fees.

Select the Reports menu to print the report.

Exit to return to the main menu.

3.11 Expenditure Request Detail

The Expenditure Request Detail form presents all expenditure items at the cost center level where the new budget amount is 10% more or less than the current estimate and the difference is at least $5,000. It will also show all expenditure items at the business area level where the budget is 3% more or less than the estimate and the difference is at least $10,000. You must provide an explanation for the difference between the estimate and new budget request for each item shown.

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Choose Expenditure Request Detail from the main menu. From the sub-menu, select cost center to update expenditure variance explanations. Select the Department sub-menu to update expenditure variance explanations. Different cost centers can be updated by selecting the drop down button.

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Print the Expenditure Request Detail by selecting Reports from the menu.

Choose Exit to return to the main menu. If you attempt to leave the form while explanations in any cost centers are still blank, BudPrep will prompt you to complete all explanations. Click on the exit button a second time to leave the form.

7 MONTHLY BUDGET

FY2011 adopted budget will be loaded into SAP in monthly budget format. Budprep provides a template for annual budget split:

On the main screen of BudPrep, select Utility->Monthly Budget

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BudPrep initializes the monthly budget in the following way:

0 ==> Period1,Period2 … Period11

FY2011 New Budget ==> Period 12.

In the template, users only can change Period 1.thru Period 11 data. Period 12 data is calculated by BudPrep formula:

FY2011 Budget - sum of Periods 1…Period 11.

The 12th period budget will be automatically adjusted to balance Periods 1…Period 11. If there are changes made for FY2011 Budget in the budget preparation procedure, the Period 12 data will also get recalculated.

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Functions are available on Monthly Budget screen:

1. Acct Type: switch work between expenditure and revenue monthly budget

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2. Auto Split:

• BudPrep will split the expenditure annual budget into 12 parts based on number of day in the month.

• For revenue, each month budget is 1/12 of annual budget. Any remainder will be added to last period number

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Auto split will reallocate every month budget for selected cost center or whole department. This is a password protected function to prevent correct monthly budget from override. Please contact Julia Zhou for password if needed.

5.0 YEAR END CLOSING: Encumbrances and Accruals

For transactions to post smoothly in the new fiscal year, all necessary accruals and adjusting entries should be entered and processed prior to the Period 13 close. Departments must ensure that a cost center exists in FY2010 and will exist in FY2011 for all carry over items such as furniture, equipment and telephone costs.

There are two types of carry over transactions – encumbrances and accruals.

Encumbrances automatically carry over to the new fiscal year, unless the department specifically requests that they be cancelled as part of the Controller’s year-end closing procedures. The funds that these supplies and services were encumbered against in FY2010 do not automatically carry over to the new fiscal year. Therefore, in order to keep items from suspending and to allow vendors to be paid on time, all carry over transactions must be funded in the FY2011 Budget. This means that the cost centers must be present in the new fiscal year. All carry over items should be reflected in a corresponding decrease in the FY2010 expenditures estimate in the budget submission as well as in the monthly departmental projections.

Accruals will occur when supplies and services are received before the end of FY2010, but the invoice will not be received in time to make payment in FY2010. Accruals are expenditures in the year of receipt (FY2010) and are treated as credits to the new fiscal year budget (FY2011) until the invoice is paid. The net effect to the FY2011 Budget is zero.

|NOTE: |As in past years, encumbrances that remain open on June 30, 2010 will be carried over and re-encumbered against FY2011 | |

| |appropriations. However, the FY2010 funds against which these items or services were encumbered will not carry over to | |

| |FY2011 and must therefore be included in the FY2011 Budget. | |

Year-End specific details for Encumbrance and Year-End processing will be provided by the Controller’s Office with support from the ERP Team.

6.0 FORMS NOT INCLUDED IN BUDPREP

6.1 Forms 8A - 8D, Facility Maintenance Cost Summary

The Forms 8A - 8D will be forwarded to departments by General Services Department and are not a part of this package.

6.2 Computer Related Expenditure Package

In accordance with Executive Order 1-44, Policy to Direct & Monitor Technology Efforts (see Appendix I or ) budget requests for hardware, software or systems development services must be made to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for review, approval and inclusion in the citywide Information Technology (IT) budget each year.

Departmental IT Budget submissions must be accompanied by a separate memo from the Department Director to the Chief Information Officer, copying the Finance Budget Office, summarizing the costs and benefits of all projected Computer Related Expenditures including:

1. Departmental IT staffing costs by Fund/Org (including basic salaries and benefits) and total dedicated FTEs (identifying any vacancy factors which may be included)

2. IT Supplies

3. IT Services (including all IT maintenance contracts)

4. IT Non-Capital Equipment (desktop PCs and printers)

5. IT Capital Equipment – clearly identified as either

- Asset Replacement, OR

- New Equipment, OR

- Projects (New or Existing/Ongoing)

See Appendix I or for TSC New Technology Form (.xls file) and TSC Existing Systems Form (.xls file)

|NOTE: |Budget requests for all computer related expenditure items must be included with the budget submission regardless of | |

| |funding source (i.e. operating, enterprise or special revenue funds). | |

ALSO:

- Cost Benefit Analysis (see Appendix I or . net/it/)

- Identify if projected expenditures are directly related to compliance with legislation or regulation

- If/Where applicable, provide an explanation of legislation and regulation

For additional information, please monitor the Information Technology Department C.H.O.I.C.E. website at regularly throughout the budget process to receive the latest IT related budget bulletins, contacts, preparation instructions, requirements and information, as well as, forms and technology standards applicable to all Departmental Computer Related Expenditure Package submissions.

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